OK but AA's $4.5M isn't going to cover whatever Lee would get plus some cap space would be required to replace AA at 3C.
- EbonyRaptor

Or Dach can win the 3rd line center role and his 925k can fit in there

I forget who the media guy was, but in an interview on NHL Radio the other day the person said he knew for a fact that 2 NHL teams had the top 3 players in the draft ranked as 1) Kakko, 2) Dach and 3) Hughes.

So Dach has his supporters in the hockey world.
- RickJ

Also on NHL radio, someone (I want to say Scott Laughlin or someone with him) said they heard that Colorado and LA both had Dach > Byram > Turcotte on their board in that order. There were teams lower down (Detroit, Vancouver, Arizona, Minnesota) that all valued Byram at the top of their boards.

The suboptimal team with a better record than the Hawks? and much better defenseman? Goligoski., Chychrun, OEL?, who also got a career year out of Darcy Keumpfer?
- LAHawk

What was the +/- of those defensemen on the same team? The only plus defenseman who played more than half the games was Hjammer. And Hjammer played 82.

I've not studied all the stats, but the Hjalmarsson I saw last year was better defensively than anyone on the Hawk roster.

Not saying the logic of moving him given he was going UFA was flawed, just saying the return was unacceptable in the way it has played out. Unless of course Connor Murphy becomes an NHL caliber, no doubt top 4 defenseman this season.

What was the +/- of those defensemen on the same team?

I've not studied all the stats, but the Hjalmarsson I saw last year was better defensively than anyone on the Hawk roster.

Not saying the logic of moving him given he was going UFA was not flawed, just saying the return was unacceptable in the way it has played out. Unless of course Connor Murphy becomes an NHL caliber, no doubt top 4 defenseman this season.
- jrsamu

+/- isn't really useful individual evaluator stat, even relative to teammate.

Murphy is already a top 4 caliber d-man. He's not as good as Hjammer ever was but he'd be top 4 on a lot of teams imo.

Or Dach can win the 3rd line center role and his 925k can fit in there
- PatShart

The point I was attempting to make seems to be a bit more evasive than I thought it would be.

Kampf had the same issue early when Q was still the coach vs MIN

He had a chance at an EN Goal, got hooked lightly and instead of fighting through it, dove and drew a penalty. Fine and all...but the Hawk's gave up the SH goal, then lost in OT. A whole lot of issues there other than Kampf...completely get that. But I'd prefer a guy that would fight thru that check/hook instead of diving and put a team away.

Something about Kampf I just wish I'd see a little more of a Kruger level of compete...I dont think he has. I kind of hope they let him go...but I'm sure he'll be back
- PatShart

To be fair I guess, Kampf was a 1st year NHL player and on a bad team. On a upper half NHL squad, he's playing in the AHL learning the N American game.

He's a fringe player to me. Maybe he will be better this season.

I forget who the media guy was, but in an interview on NHL Radio the other day the person said he knew for a fact that 2 NHL teams had the top 3 players in the draft ranked as 1) Kakko, 2) Dach and 3) Hughes.

So Dach has his supporters in the hockey world.
- RickJ

And Stan failed once again to successfully trade up into the 1 or 2 spot.

Unless it’s a player who’s part of a winning legacy and has a lot of personal cache...

For example, Brouwer, Bolland, Shaw, etc. are all jerseys you can proudly wear and keep your street cred.
- Chief4Feathers

Or you can proudly wear your #11 Jack Skille jersey when you play rat hockey.

Or you can proudly wear your #11 Jack Skille jersey when you play rat hockey.
- Rota's Rooter

Yes, I suppose if you’re wearing it for ironic effect.

It's funny that many posters want what's best for the team, if Sikura earns a spot or doesn't most are ok with that. But there is this Anti Sikura crowd who don't seem to care if he earns a spot on the roster, they, for whatever reason dislike him and don't want him to make the team. Not sure I understand that?
- paulr

If someone has mentioned this already my apologies, but my guess is that people look at his dimensions and figure he’s slight so just attribute “losing board battles” to him, when in fact he was helping drive possession and winning many.

The “0 goals” things is just the clincher cause he doesn’t satisfy the size quotient.

Just a hunch...

Would be nice to have legit net front presence.
- mrpaulish

you just added him by way the third overall pick.

He is so long and so talented on both sides of his stick, and he just was so good at planting and getting to the pucks, even passing them, once gaining possession.

At about the same time Colliton was hired, Hitchcock and Desjardins (experienced coaches), were hired in Edmonton and Los Angeles. How did that experience work out for those teams (they ended up hiring yet new coaches after the season).
- LAHawk

Uhm yeah...I’m going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there. This doesn’t adhere to the narrative.

Also on NHL radio, someone (I want to say Scott Laughlin or someone with him) said they heard that Colorado and LA both had Dach > Byram > Turcotte on their board in that order. There were teams lower down (Detroit, Vancouver, Arizona, Minnesota) that all valued Byram at the top of their boards.
- L_B_R

I call BS on this. Those teams may or may not think like that, but rarely if ever advertised it, rather they will "spin" a pick that close is being we got the guy we wanted and given picks 3 - 9 were all interchangeable and there was no moving down it tells me those teams just decided to take the guy who fell and be happy with it. So unless the GM Of LA or Col actually come out and say, "yea, we wanted the guy who just got taken ahead of the guy we got" then it's nonsense or at best conjecture.

This is the post-draft feel good moment, but the bottom line is the upside of Dach is probably no different than the guy taken 9th. If Dach was clearly ahead of everyone else, then there sure were not many lists showing it.

Will he be good? Yea maybe, but so could any of the 3-9s. But none are sure things that's for sure. The closest thing to sure things were 1 and 2 and even those two are not suggested to be "generational" talent.

I call BS on this. Those teams may or may not think like that, but rarely if ever advertised it, rather they will "spin" a pick that close is being we got the guy we wanted and given picks 3 - 9 were all interchangeable and there was no moving down it tells me those teams just decided to take the guy who fell and be happy with it. So unless the GM Of LA or Col actually come out and say, "yea, we wanted the guy who just got taken ahead of the guy we got" then it's nonsense or at best conjecture.

This is the post-draft feel good moment, but the bottom line is the upside of Dach is probably no different than the guy taken 9th. If Dach was clearly ahead of everyone else, then there sure were not many lists showing it.

Will he be good? Yea maybe, but so could any of the 3-9s. But none are sure things that's for sure. The closest thing to sure things were 1 and 2 and even those two are not suggested to be "generational" talent.
- kwolf68

It was mentioned before the draft, not after. It was during the period when twitter started blowing up about reports from the draft floor. Which we get literally every year so this is not new - not "advertised" but getting that info is the jobs of reports/insiders.

Also, NHL Radio has nothing to do with Chicago and would have no reason to push anything for their sake.

I call BS on this. Those teams may or may not think like that, but rarely if ever advertised it, rather they will "spin" a pick that close is being we got the guy we wanted and given picks 3 - 9 were all interchangeable and there was no moving down it tells me those teams just decided to take the guy who fell and be happy with it. So unless the GM Of LA or Col actually come out and say, "yea, we wanted the guy who just got taken ahead of the guy we got" then it's nonsense or at best conjecture.

This is the post-draft feel good moment, but the bottom line is the upside of Dach is probably no different than the guy taken 9th. If Dach was clearly ahead of everyone else, then there sure were not many lists showing it.

Will he be good? Yea maybe, but so could any of the 3-9s. But none are sure things that's for sure. The closest thing to sure things were 1 and 2 and even those two are not suggested to be "generational" talent.
- kwolf68

What's not to love about the pick? Simply based on his size and puck skills I see his floor as a 2nd line winger.

I call BS on this. Those teams may or may not think like that, but rarely if ever advertised it, rather they will "spin" a pick that close is being we got the guy we wanted and given picks 3 - 9 were all interchangeable and there was no moving down it tells me those teams just decided to take the guy who fell and be happy with it. So unless the GM Of LA or Col actually come out and say, "yea, we wanted the guy who just got taken ahead of the guy we got" then it's nonsense or at best conjecture.

This is the post-draft feel good moment, but the bottom line is the upside of Dach is probably no different than the guy taken 9th. If Dach was clearly ahead of everyone else, then there sure were not many lists showing it.

Will he be good? Yea maybe, but so could any of the 3-9s. But none are sure things that's for sure. The closest thing to sure things were 1 and 2 and even those two are not suggested to be "generational" talent.
- kwolf68

Generational talents come once every ........ Wait for it ........ Generation!

I don't think there is a Generational talent currently playing in the NHL, McDavid maybe??? I think you can count on perhaps two hands the number of players classified as generational talents in the history of the NHL.

All that said, we as fans have no idea if Dach is better or worse than Turcotte or Cozens or Byram or KK or Hughes. In fact the "experts" can't logistically see each player enough in live games to differentiate between players that are close in ability, then on top of that you have to factor in things like competition, how good or bad that prospect's team is etc.. Analytics help provide a better picture. Then on top of all an "expert" has to determine how good a player will be in 1-3-5-10 years.

You're right Dach may be not be beter than 9th overall, but he may also be the best of this draft's crop, or anywhere in between.

I call BS on this. Those teams may or may not think like that, but rarely if ever advertised it, rather they will "spin" a pick that close is being we got the guy we wanted and given picks 3 - 9 were all interchangeable and there was no moving down it tells me those teams just decided to take the guy who fell and be happy with it. So unless the GM Of LA or Col actually come out and say, "yea, we wanted the guy who just got taken ahead of the guy we got" then it's nonsense or at best conjecture.

This is the post-draft feel good moment, but the bottom line is the upside of Dach is probably no different than the guy taken 9th. If Dach was clearly ahead of everyone else, then there sure were not many lists showing it.

Will he be good? Yea maybe, but so could any of the 3-9s. But none are sure things that's for sure. The closest thing to sure things were 1 and 2 and even those two are not suggested to be "generational" talent.
- kwolf68

The 18 year old draft is a 100% crapshoot unless the #1 ranked player is a Sidney Crosby or Mario Lemieux or McDavid. Hell, back in the old days somebody thought Peter Nedved and Mike Ricci were better picks than Jaromir Jagr.

Just recently Vancouver selected Juolevi 10 spots ahead of Charlie McAvoy and the Oilers took Puljujarvi ahead of Matthew Tkachuk. Think they wouldn't want a do-over?

Dach was the Hawk's guy and they got him. He might have a 1500 game career, he could be a mediocre 3rd liner or he could be in the KHL in 3 years playing with Nail Yakupov.

I like what they got - a big, rangy centerman who can cover a lot of acreage.

I’m ok with Dach & think he plays in Chicago next year

Up the middle/
Toews- Strome- Dach - Anisimov

Or you can proudly wear your #11 Jack Skille jersey when you play rat hockey.
- Rota's Rooter

I wouldn't wear that playing paintball

The one thing that made me hesitant to want Dach over Byram and Turcotte was his skating. With the limited viewings I had of Dach, he seemed more of a lumbering skater than what I was reading from analysts like Wiz and pretty much everyone else that analyses hockey players for a living. So I early on accepted that they were right and I was wrong in my assessment of Dach's skating. But, I still had a bit of lingering hesitancy and I more or less came to the conclusion Dach was similar to Strome - both big guys that skate well enough after the first or second stride but it's those first couple strides that often make the difference between being a true first line player and a second line player.

Someone help me to understand that Dach's skating is better than Strome's becaus I'm pretty sure that while Strome can be a very good 2C - I can't see him ever being a legit 1C.

Bowman's two biggest mistakes IMO are the terrible Seabrook contract and the Danault trade. The Seabrook trade was horrible and there is no way to frame it any other way. With the Danault trade you can make an argument that Bowman was trying to bolster the team for the playoffs and that he and Q were not on the same page, let alone chapter or book on that trade. The Panarin and Hammer trades were done for cap purposes. The Leddy and Sharp trades brought back all they were worth and this 'argument' that he Bowman had other offers has never been proven. As for Oduya "twisting in the wind" this is just more of a nonsensical narrative of the Anti Bowman faction who are still upset that Uncle Dale, he of the missed Qualifying Offer Sheets, was fired. If Oduya felt like he was "twisting in the wind" do you think he would have re-signed with the Blackhawks?
- paulr[/qu

Agree 100%. We fans did not enjoy the 3 rings enough. Vancouver fan thinks the 3mil cap hit was worth it to have Lugano in nets for them. That might explain why we had 3 cups and they do not have none. Our ownership finally woke up and knew what would drive more of us to the product.

I’m ok with Dach & think he plays in Chicago next year

Up the middle/
Toews- Strome- Dach - Anisimov
- Colbyboy

I'm torn on Dach making the team. I believe prospects should get time in the minors but by the sounds of things Dach already has a sound two way game. If he does make the Hawks it's been suggested he will start as a winger.

The one thing that made me hesitant to want Dach over Byram and Turcotte was his skating. With the limited viewings I had of Dach, he seemed more of a lumbering skater than what I was reading from analysts like Wiz and pretty much everyone else that analyses hockey players for a living. So I early on accepted that they were right and I was wrong in my assessment of Dach's skating. But, I still had a bit of lingering hesitancy and I more or less came to the conclusion Dach was similar to Strome - both big guys that skate well enough after the first or second stride but it's those first couple strides that often make the difference between being a true first line player and a second line player.

Someone help me to understand that Dach's skating is better than Strome's becaus I'm pretty sure that while Strome can be a very good 2C - I can't see him ever being a legit 1C.
- EbonyRaptor

John Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly. Their skating would make Kristy Yamaguchi cringe. But they know how to play the game over 200 feet of ice. If Dach duplicates what those guys bring to the game, he will do very well. Same with Strome.

I'm torn on Dach making the team. I believe prospects should get time in the minors but by the sounds of things Dach already has a sound two way game. If he does make the Hawks it's been suggested he will start as a winger.
- paulr

Hawks have training camp preseason and 9 games to start the season to make a decision on dach juniors or nhl.

I wouldn't wear that playing paintball
- 6628

Yeah, you'd just run around really fast and miss everything you shoot at.